Well, my postition on N. Korea is that things aren't always black & white.

Nuclear weapons of mass destruction and chem. or bio. weapons of mass destruction, I think, require different handling. As do two countries as different as N. Korea and Iraq.

Most former Iraqi scientists, that I've heard anway, say that they don't believe that Saddam actually posseses a nuclear weapon. He does, however have the chem. and bio. weapons. Those weapons are not going to be delivered to the U.S. be means of an ICBM, especially one from Iraq. They just don't have 'em.

Any of his chem. or bio. stuff would have to be transferred over to the hands of terrorists, probably al-Qaeda, through clandestine movements and similarly snuck into the U.S. This isn't something that's easily traced, like a missile launch. I think stopping this kind of threat requires actually going in, like we're doing now, incapacitating (or decapitating) the government who posesses those weapons, and then actually destroying them ourselves. It's the only way we're going to know that we got them. And yes, there is always a chance that some have already been slipped out of the country, but it's better than sitting back and doing nothing.

N. Korea, on the other hand, does have nuclear weapons, and does have a means of delivering them to the U.S. through ICBMs. However unlikely that is to actually happen, I think that very fact makes it inherently more dangerous to simply strike at them with military force.

I think you also have to look at the motives of the dictatorships in Iraq and N. Korea.

Saddam, aside from Israel, is militarily the biggest and baddest boy on the block. His immediate block anyway. The man, clearly, would like to overtake and dominate his neighbors, and would, no doubt, do so without the intervention of U.S. led forces (1991.) Saddam also has no vested interest in the U.S. Iraq is sixth, if I'm not mistaken, on the list of countries the U.S. imports oil from. He doesn't get the lucrative oil deals from the U.S. like he does from Russia and France. He doesn't want, and quite frankly doesn't need, any U.S. protection from his neighbors. And his neighbors, as much as they may hate us, realize that we're the only thing standing between him, and complete Middle East domination. Another factor that makes him despise us even more. Elimination of the U.S, to Saddam, equals his domination of his region.

N. Korea, again on the other hand, has a tremendous economic interest in the United States. If my facts aren't outdated, N. Korea and the U.S. exchanged right around $100-billion worth of goods each year. We get drawn into a war with North Korea and their, already fragile, economy collapses. They know that. Kim Jong Il is none to pleased that the current administration is taking such a hard line stance against their nuclear violations, especially when it comes to economic sanctions. Quite a shock from the permissiveness of the previous administration. What has N. Korea been calling for since this whole mess with them began? Unilateral economic talks with the United States. Don't get me wrong, anyone with a missile is a threat, but this saber-rattling doesn't amount to much more than an attempt at economic blackmail.

I hope this has been comprehensible, because I'm at work now, and you've already drawn me farther into this than I wanted to get! LOL

I'll await any criticizms, corrections, or complaints.

By the way, the medium I report in is radio.